WASHINGTON,  - Un uomo e' stato giustiziato in serata, nell'Oklahoma, dopo essere stato condannato a morte nel 1993 per lo stupro e l'omicidio di una ragazzina di 14  anni.

L'esecuzione, attraverso una iniezione letale, si e' volta nel carcere di McAlester dopo che la Corte suprema dello stato aveva respinto il ricorso presentato dai suoi legali, secondo cui l'omicida, Kenneth Charm, 37 anni, non possedeva tutte le sue facolta' mentali.

Un suo complice, Ronald Jessie, che aveva 16 anni al momento dei fatti, e' stato condannato all'ergastolo. 

Prima di essere giustiziato, Charm ha chiesto alla famiglia della vittima di essere perdonato.

Charm e' la nona persona giustiziata quest'anno in Oklahoma, la 63.esima da quando la pena di morte e' stata ristabilita, nel 1990. 

A man who raped and murdered a 14-year-old girl was executed  Thursday by injection, despite his attorneys' contention he was mentally  retarded.

Kenneth C. Charm, 37, was put to death at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary after the Supreme Court rejected his final appeal. Charm was convicted of killing Brandy Hill in July 1993 in southwestern Oklahoma.

The Supreme Court ruled last year against executing the mentally retarded, and the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals ruled that people with an IQ of 70 or below shouldn't face the death penalty.

Charm had an IQ of 75, but his lawyers argued IQ tests have a margin of error of plus or minus five percentage points.

Hill was visiting her father for the summer when Charm and co-defendant Ron Jessie lured her into a car. The men raped, strangled and bludgeoned the girl with a sledgehammer.

Charm testified that he and Jessie both delivered blows that killed the girl. Jessie, who was 16 at the time, was sentenced to life without parole.

The execution was Oklahoma's ninth this year.